


You Can Wonder [Who I Really Am]

by bathtimefunduck, onefootonego (startingXI)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: College!AU, F/F, Multi, punkband!alex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-31 01:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10888671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bathtimefunduck/pseuds/bathtimefunduck, https://archiveofourown.org/users/startingXI/pseuds/onefootonego
Summary: Maggie stops short, headphones in, caught, practically mid-stride because her roommate?Her,‘what is a vegetable?’and‘sorry i have thirty classes and four majors’roommate?Is a badass.Not that the motorcycle didn’t immediately give that away, but like - Maggie is watching Alex on stage, Alex playing a neon green bass guitar with something that oddly looks like chemical structures as a design. And not just that--but Alex issinging.





	You Can Wonder [Who I Really Am]

“Shhhh, look,” Lucy points with her pen, “here we see the elusive Danvers, cautiously making it’s way through the grazing grounds, such a rare sight here in these parts.”

“Not much is known of the Danvers,” Maggie continues, “just that they share communal living spaces and, in theory, have a den nearby. Rarely are they seen in the wild, preferring the safety of heavily wooded areas devoid of social creatures.”

“Rarer still has the Danvers been seen in mating plumage-”

Maggie snorts and Alex, eyes flashing, throws an orange. “The Danvers can hear you, you dicks.”

Lucy ducks the orange thrown at her head. “Another week without a sighting and we would have had to send out a search party.”

This brings an eyeroll from Alex. “I know at least one of you saw me two nights ago,” she says, pulling open the freezer, pulling out the hot pockets and ripping open the box. 

“Please tell me you’re not actually going to eat both of those.” Maggie grimaces, watching as Alex deposits both into the microwave. 

“I don’t have anything else,” is the grumbled reply, which prompts Lucy to lob the orange back in Alex’s direction 

“This.” Lucy says “An orange, known to have these crazy things called nutrients. Should eat it.” 

“They teach you that in research methods?” Alex fires back, catching the orange easily. 

Maggie and Lucy notice how it’s carefully dropped onto her bag instead of ending up anywhere else. They then watch as Alex disappears into her room, closing the door behind her with a hitch. 

“Ten minutes,” Lucy says, smirking. 

“Please,” Maggie replies, “she’s going to be in and out in under five.” 

Maggie was close. It’s three minutes, Alex stepping out of her room in time with the microwave blaring that the saturated fats were boiling at the ends and frozen in the middle, the optimum hot pocket level of doneness. She doesn’t even grab the plate, sticking the oozing rectangles into a paper towel and adding them to the top of her stack of books. She kind of waves a finger in their direction before heading back out the front door. 

Lucy tilts her head as she considered their absentee roommate. “When do you think she sleeps?”

“She’s a vampire, they don’t sleep.”

“Maggie, it’s three in the afternoon, your logic is faulty.”

“We don’t know, she could sparkle! I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in direct sunlight!”

Lucy snickers, “Shut up and explain these ionic thingies.”

“Ionic bonds aren’t that hard, Lane. This is only Chem 101.”

“And I only  _ need _ Chem 101. So shut up and help me pass it, nerd, or I won’t help get you out of that parking ticket you got last week.”

“ _ Who gives a bike rider a parking ticket? _ ”

“You chained your bike to a fire hydrant.”

“The bike rack was full!” Maggie protests.

“Not the point, and, also, not the science. Get to the science and let me worry about the parking ticket,” Lucy says.

Maggie rolls her eyes, but drags her textbook closer so she can look at the notes she’d doodled around the edges. She’s long since given up on attempting to translate Lucy’s notes; for a future lawyer, Lane has notoriously horrendous handwriting. 

Lucy pushes her attempt at the homework towards Maggie, knowing what was about to happen.

Maggie would sigh. Maggie would grab the red pen. Maggie would cross out, draw arrows, circle things, and, generally, paint Lucy’s work redder than her favorite lipstick.

And that is exactly what Maggie does. 

Except around Lucy’s name, where Maggie drew a sad, crying face. Because Lucy’s roommate was just as big a dick as she was. 

“I’m dropping this class.” Lucy declares, taking one look at the homework Maggie slid back across the table “It’s impossible.” 

“You can’t drop it,” Maggie reminds her, “we’re like a month into the semester already. And it’s not impossible.” 

Lucy looks pointedly down at the paper, up across at Maggie, then back down at the paper “I’m seeing a lot of red pen that tells me otherwise Sawyer.” 

Maggie pushes the paper away and finds her own notes.

“Look,” she says “forget the homework for a minute, let’s just go over the notes from class.” 

Reteaching her roommate chemistry after practically every lecture was not a task Maggie had anticipated undertaking, but Maggie found that she didn’t mind it. Damn near enjoys it; although the same could not be said for Lucy, who, most days, genuinely tries to understand their professor. 

It was just that said professor was more interested in their research than teaching undergraduates, so lectures were a mess on the best of days and said undergraduates often left the lecture hall with glazed eyes and mumbling about headaches. 

“We work through this lecture and then I need food,” Lucy declares, looking across the table at Maggie. “Deal?” 

Maggie understands why Lucy wants to be a lawyer. 

“You got it Lane,” she nods, “But that means we’re going through the whole lecture.” 

“Not just the slides with pictures?” 

“No,” Maggie rolls her eyes, pulling up the lecture on her laptop, “Not just the slides with pictures.” 

*

It’s movie night, or rather, it was formerly ‘ _ oh fuck midterms are next week _ ’ study night - but after going through eight successive lectures, Maggie’s brain has called it quits. Convincing Lucy that they’ve earned Domino’s and a movie takes less effort than expected. So here they are, sitting on the couch, Secret Life of Pets up on the laptop between them and a pizza each on the coffee table. 

They’ve barely gotten into it when the door to the suite flies open, bouncing off the doorstop with a hard thud, in striding Alex. Alex, who has a phone to her ear and a dark expression her eyes, and what’s more, she’s still got her bike helmet on. Although  _ that _ promptly gets thrown into her room, where it can be heard hitting the floor with a crash. 

“I’m coming up there,” is all they hear as Alex drops her bag on the floor, and her voice is -  _ calm? tense? soothing? _

_ All of the above? _

Whatever emotion it was, it was weird. Alex Danvers, either the best roommate ever or the worst by virtue of simply never existing inside their apartment, had two states of being hungry and under caffeinated. Those were the only emotions Maggie and Lucy had ever heard her express. This, this concerned tenderness, had them pushing aside the laptop and sitting up. 

Alex upends her school bag on their small table, books and notebooks scattering without care. The phone is still pressed to her ear, quiet words murmured into the mic as she follows the helmet into her room. They can hear drawers opening and closing, slamming, as Alex shoved things into her bag. 

“Kara, no. I will be there tonight. Soon. I’m leaving now, don’t, don’t let her force you into anything okay?”

Maggie looked at Lucy, “Who’s Kara?”

Lucy shrugged, “No idea.”

“No, Kara, seriously. Put- put mom on. I’m coming up, you don’t have to- you, Kara, just put mom on.”

Alex leaves her room, bag and keys in hand, motorcycle helmet under her arm. Her face is furious, even as she tries to keep her voice low and quiet while talking to Kara. “Kara, honey, I’ll be home in an hour and a half. You can get ready, if you think it’ll keep her off your back, but I’m coming, sis. Okay?”

The movie is paused, forgotten in Maggie’s lap. Lucy is hesitant as she waves to get Alex’s attention. 

“Hey, do you, do you need me to drive you somewhere? If your- if Kara needs you to stay on the phone?”

Alex pauses and her face softens slightly. 

“Hang on, Kar,” she turns and seems to notice Lucy and Maggie’s presence for the first time, “No... no thanks, Luce, but I appreciate it.”

Lucy nods and shares a look with Maggie as the door closes softer than it opened. That was probably the nicest conversation they’d ever had with her, and Maggie hadn’t said a word. One last concerned look at the door, and Maggie pulls the laptop back where Lucy can see it, pressing play again. 

Lucy offered to help, and Alex politely, of all things, said no, and there was nothing they could do about it now. 

*

They only know Alex is indeed back on campus on Monday by virtue of her motorcycle helmet being visible in her room. It had been a topic of conversation for Lucy and Maggie over the weekend, Alex disappearing - assumedly back home - upon some sort of crisis that had her both looking the softest, and the angriest Lucy and Maggie had ever seen her. 

Which probably shouldn’t count for a lot considering how little they see of Alex in general. 

“She’s been eating oranges,” Lucy says on Wednesday morning.

“And you know this because you count the number of oranges in the fruitbowl, or…” Maggie asks, a mug of coffee between her hands and a sheaf of notes splayed across the table in front of her. 

“This,” Lucy says, holding up a ten dollar bill and a piece of paper with  **oranges, please** written on it in what they can assume is Alex’s scrawl. “My question is when did she overhear that I was going grocery shopping. I’m pretty sure she hasn’t been home since Tuesday.” 

“It’s the groupchat.” Maggie reminds her “The one that she’s never replied to.” 

“Ah,” Lucy nods, “You may be onto something there.” 

Maggie snorts and sips her coffee “How come you’re not frantically studying for a midterm like the rest of us mere mortals?”

“Trust me,” Lucy says, pulling toast from the toaster and frowning at it’s uneven cooking “I will be, but there is literally no point of trying to read anything before I have coffee.” 

“Fair,” Maggie mumbles, already distracted by the promise of memorizing everything on the page in front of her. 

It might just be a research methods midterm, but every test counts and Maggie is desperate to finish the week with at least some of her sanity left, minimal as it may be. 

*

It may be too late for her sanity, all things considered, when Friday afternoon finally rolls around. Maggie has declared herself officially brain dead as she trundles slowly to the security desk to flash her ID. 

She’s fairly certain that she’s having some sort of tactile hallucination as a towering blonde practically tackles her as she steps through the door. Maggie stiffens at first, product of her past, still - but it’s immediately apparent that whoever is is, they’re not a threat. The opposite, it seems. 

“Maggie!” she exclaims loudly. Quieter, she whispers, “You’re Maggie, right? I came to see Alex but I think she forgot I was coming and security is looking at me funny. Can you sign me in?”

Maggie extracts herself carefully from the slightly crushing grip. Excessively tall. Blonde. Beautiful, in an awkward turtle in a grandma sweater way. She didn’t look like anyone Maggie knew, but there was something in the way she was standing, something familiar in the tilt of her head or the way she wore her glasses, just… something. “Ka...ra…?”

The stranger’s face split into a blinding smile completely inappropriate for midterms. “Yes! Have you seen Alex? She’s not answering her phone.”

“Uh. Let me…” Maggie glances at the clock. “Let me call Lucy to get you checked in, and I can maybe go find your sister.”

Kara nods like a bobblehead, still grinning. “Great! Yeah, it’s really nice to meet you! I can’t wait to meet Lucy! You guys seem great, Alex talks about you guys a lot.”

Yeah, no, Maggie doesn’t believe that. She  _ barely _ believes, in the wake of her testing hangover, that this walking ball of sunshine is related to Alex. But… seeing the bouncing blonde, so excited at the thought of seeing her sister and meeting her sister’s “friends,” she could understand the look on Alex’s face last week. Who wouldn’t want to protect that?

Lucy answers the text quickly, catching the next elevator down with a wide grin and Superman pjs. She skips,  _ skips _ , over to them and throws an arm around them both. “Kara! It’s so nice to see you, c’mon get your ID out and you can come upstairs with me and tell me  _ all  _ about Alex. What brings you up here this weekend?”

“Oh Alex has a show, I told her I wouldn’t miss it.”

Maggie, halfway back to the exit, pauses. She looks back at the security desk, where Lucy has stopped mid-signature to stare at the amazon. “A show?”

“Yeah, her band! I use to watch them play all the time, but now that they’re playing almost nothing but college venues, I had to wait until I turned 18 to catch the next one.”

“Back up,” Lucy says “Alex is in a band?” 

Kara glances between them, “Yeah, Breaking Beakers. They formed in Midvale, split when they left for college, but got back together like six weeks later. They’ve been playing college venues ever since.” 

“I want to hear more of this,” Maggie says, “but I’m going to go find Alex first.” 

“Sure, sure,” Kara nods, and Maggie is left to watch as she disappears into the elevator with Lucy. 

Stepping outside, Maggie tries to comprehend that Alex, mysteriously absent and only half-jokingly an accused vampire, Alex Danvers, is in a band. A band called Breaking Beakers at that. It seems barely believable, having never seen so much as a guitar, drumstick or keyboard anywhere in the suite. 

Pulling out her phone, Maggie puts ‘breaking beakers’ into a quick google search - Lucy can moan about Maggie not waiting for her, later. Now though Maggie is heading to the library and fishing her headphones out of her bag because the first things to come up? 

Videos.

Well shot, live performance videos. 

And god, Maggie stops short, headphones in, caught, practically mid-stride because her roommate? 

Her, ‘ _ what is a vegetable? _ ’ and  _ ‘sorry i have thirty classes and four majors’ roommate _ ’?

Is a badass. 

Not that the motorcycle didn’t immediately give that away, but like - Maggie is watching Alex on stage, Alex playing a neon green bass guitar with something that oddly looks like chemical structures as a design. And not just that- 

-but Alex is  _ singing _ . 

Maggie knows she’s in trouble as she forces herself to listen, watch and walk at the same time. It’s not like the library is far, but Maggie feels a little bit like her whole world has been tipped upside down and she needs the fresh air and the walk to try and right herself. 

_ Alex Danvers _ is in a band.  _ Alex Danvers _ sings and plays bass guitar in said band. The band is actually pretty damn good. 

Getting to the library, Maggie pushes phone and headphones into a pocket, trying to figure out the best place to start hunting for her roommate. Something tells Maggie she won’t find Alex in the group study areas, where it’s more talking and less studying. She counts at least four people on netflix and a dozen on facebook as she walks towards the stairs. 

The stairs, because Midterm Zombie Maggie suddenly finds herself energized by pulsing beats and a voice that she was  _ not _ expecting to come out of her perpetually asocial roommate. Maggie was definitely not thinking about those close ups of Alex in a crop top from that last video, nope. 

Third floor is the start of the quiet floors, but it still allows groups of two. But, it was also where the private study rooms, sound proofed and booked months in advance, were available for students. Knowing Alex, she’d probably booked it when she registered for classes last year. 

The first three rooms were a bust, and Maggie was getting a little creeped out by how quiet it was compared to the wall of noise in the lower levels. The rustle of a page two aisles over makes her jump, and she’s thankful that Alex is in the first room of the next row. 

At least, she’s pretty sure it’s Alex. 

That is Alex’s bag, with the random patches and stickers, one of which Maggie now recognizes as the pattern on her bass. That was a giant pile of books, which, Maggie thought was kind of Alex’s trademark. 

Maggie still isn’t entirely sure if the head face-planted on the open book is her roommate or not, but chances are good enough for her to knock on the glass. 

The dead body of a student doesn’t so much as flinch.

She knocks louder, and is rewarded by at least three nearby students, somewhere in the stacks, shushing her. 

This floor? Seriously creepy. 

Maggie shoves the door open and studies the young woman passed out on the desk. She still can’t make out a face, but it looks like a greasier version of her roommate’s hair. And that might, maybe, be the birthmark Maggie had noticed that one time Alex’s hair got caught in her helmet. 

Maggie reaches for a discarded pencil and flips it around. Standing well out of reach, she uses the eraser side to clear the hair from the girl’s face. Alex. Alex looking a lot softer when she slept. She also looks really tired, and Maggie almost feels bad about poking her in the face.

Almost.

“Danvers,”  _ Poke. Poke.  _ “Danvers!”

“Mmmgoeffyurseff.”

“Kara’s in trouble.”

Alex’s eyes shot open as she shoves herself away from the table, “What? What’s wrong with Kara?”

Maggie, safe by the front door, snorts. “Her sister forgot her. She’s on the couch, Lucy’s babysitting.”

“No, she’s not coming til tomorrow.”

“Danvers, what day is it?”

“Thursday.”

Maggie tilts her head to the side. “You didn’t have any exams on Friday did you?”

“No. I just wanted to get ahead.”

“Mmmhmm. That’s good. Considering it’s now Friday. Afternoon. Friday afternoon.”

“No way.”

Maggie thinks about pulling out her phone, but remembered the googling (and ogling) she’d done on the way over. “Is your phone dead?”

Alex pulls her phone out of her back pocket. It’s not dead, but it kind of looks like it should be. Battered and cracked, the battery showing a pathetic little red line. Oh, and seven missed calls plus a casual forty-two missed text messages.

At least 15 of those were Lucy in the group chat complaining about her last final, probably. 

“ _ Fuck _ , it’s Friday.”

“Did you think I would come all the way over here to fuck with you, Danvers?” Maggie smirks.

Alex picks up her books and starts shoving them into her bag. “I can’t believe I forgot about Kara.”

“You forgot what day it is; it’s midterms, it happens.”

“Kara’s probably still waiting-”

“Alex, calm down, she caught me in the lobby, I called Luce down to check her in, you’re good.” Maggie pauses. “She mentioned she’s eighteen.”

“Yeah, finally.”

“She single?”

Alex stops dead in her tracks. “You’re not setting her up with college boys.”

“I was asking for  _ me _ , Danvers, she’s _ hot. _ ”

“You’re not dating my little sister, Sawyer.”

Maggie refrains from point out that the elder Danvers is much more her type. 

“Don’t even think about it,” Alex threatens again in Maggie’s silence. 

Maggie just smirks and watches as Alex gathers the last of her books together and shoves them into her backpack. It’s bulging and must weigh at least a couple pounds, so Maggie offers, “I could carry a few of those, if you wanted.” 

Alex, mid battle with a zipper pauses, glances at Maggie, then pulls out a textbook that vaguely connects to the entry level bio class. Pulling it off the table, Maggie discovers it carries the same weight as at least one small child. 

Worth it though, Maggie figures, to see Alex zip her bag up and sling it over her shoulders with ease “Ready?” Maggie asks 

“I need coffee,” is Alex’s reply. 

So there’s a pitstop at the library cafe where Maggie witnesses Alex simply walk up to the register and pay for an order she didn’t even have to place, confirming the running theory that Alex lives in the library. 

She turns to Maggie, unexpectedly asking, “You want anything?” 

Earlier in the week, hell yes, but right now? 

“I’m good,” Maggie waves away the offer and watches as Alex shrugs in a ‘ _ your loss _ ’ type way.

Coffee in hand for Alex, they walk back towards the sophomore dorms in silence. It should feel weird, or something, but mostly it feels like Alex is trying to figure out what to say. There are half moments where she opens her mouth, as if she’s figured it out, and then closes it again - assuming that Maggie hasn’t noticed. 

She finally does get the words out, as they’re entering the dorm. Alex holds the door open for Maggie and then says, “Thanks,” followed by “for, you know getting Kara in.” 

“It’s no big deal,” Maggie says honestly as they’re stepping into the elevator. “Honestly, Alex.” 

And that’s apparently all Alex has to say on the matter. Or if she has more, there isn’t time between the elevator and their dorm for her to say them, because the door is barely open before a Kara-shaped-blur is in Alex’s arms. 

And Alex just- 

- _ melts _ . 

Maggie manages to close the door and watch as Alex carefully places the coffee down on flat surface, before pulling Kara into an equally tight hug. 

“You need sleep,” is the first thing Kara says to Alex before stepping back.

“Thanks,” Alex deadpans. 

“It’s midterms week.” she adds, as some sort of explanation as she looks over to Lucy, “Thank you, for getting her up here.” 

“Anytime, Danvers. She’s a treat,” Lucy says.

Alex smiles a bit when her sister finally lets go. “What do you want to do?”

“Nap.”

“Yeah, right, Energizer.”

“Yes,  _ nap _ , Alex, you remember last time you went up there without sleep. If you go to sleep now, you can still get up in time for us to go do-” Kara glances at the roommates, “-the  _ thing _ .”

“Kara,” Alex whines, “I just got coffee.”

Lucy takes the coffee from the counter and takes a quick sip. She fails to hide her grimace at the bitter taste. “Mmm. Black. Just the way I love it.”

Alex pretends to be shocked at the audacity, but as rarely as she’s come across them, they can tell she isn’t, really. They watch as she lets herself be dragged back to her room and the tiny twin bed, and her roommates can hear the younger woman bullying her sister into more comfortable clothes. 

Maggie pulls out her phone. She glances at the closed door to Alex’s room and back to Lucy. “So, did you get the story from Little Danvers?”

“Yeeesssss,” Lucy snickers. “There’s a show tonight, apparently. Kara said she’d get us in if we want.”

“Did she show you any of their stuff?”

“No, she didn’t have the chance,” Lucy said.

Maggie rushes Lucy to the couch and shoves an earbud in her hands. She pulls up the videos she was watching earlier and practically sticks her phone in Lucy’s face while she puts the other earbud in her own ear to listen along.

It’s almost like Lucy’s jaw just slowly unhinges with every video. Maggie notes the biggest drops involve flashes of abs that Alex must have developed deadlifting her textbooks. 

Not that she blames Lucy. 

At all. 

“Holy shit,” Lucy mutters.

“Holy shit,” Maggie agrees.

“We’re going to that show,” Lucy says.

“Yep.”

“Play that other one again.”

*

The bar is packed - Maggie and Lucy showing up in time to hear the last two songs of the opening band. Kara had met them at the door, decked out in a well loved band t-shirt, plus a vip band around her wrist, and two in her hands for Maggie and Lucy. The wristbands had gotten them within two rows of the stage, and in the already small venue, they may as well have been sitting on stage. 

Kara seems antsy with anticipation, but doesn’t try and speak over the last song of the opener - Maggie catches Kara touching her glasses two or three times before the house lights go out and silence falls. 

Although only for a moment. 

There’s a beat, maybe two, and then movement on the stage. It’s all shadows and deeper darkness, but then, to the cheers of a crowd far more familiar with Breaking Beakers hits than either Maggie,or Lucy - bass chords fill the space. 

But it’s only when the drums explode into the music - in sync with the house lights - do they see Alex. 

Front and center. 

The first thing Maggie notices is the cut off sleeves proving that lugging around all those books has done her  _ apparently-less-studious-than-assumed _ roommate some serious good. For Lucy, it was the pleather, shiny and black and damn near painted on. 

Kara lets out a screech at the sight of her sister stepping up to the mic, but it’s lost in the noise of the crowd.

The first song is a fast melody, hyping the crowd to ridiculous levels. Kara is singing along, eyes on her sister even as she inches away from some of the more pushy fans. She reaches out to hook a finger around Maggie’s belt loop, and Maggie flashes her a quick smile before looking back up at the stage. She and Lucy may not know every word, but their “research” earlier taught them the hooks. 

It takes two songs for Alex to whip off her beanie. 

It takes two  _ seconds _ for Maggie’s jaw to drop at the new hair, Alex’s previously bobbed hair shorn into an undercut that was sexy as hell. The crowd hollered louder, causing Alex to grin as they launched into a new song. 

Maggie was close enough to hear Lucy curse. 

Kara was grinning widely. This must have been  _ the thing _ they left to take care of earlier. Maggie didn’t know whether to thank the girl or kill her for not warning them. 

“Like it? She looks good, right?” Kara shouts.

Lucy stopped bouncing to look at her. “Are you  _ serious _ ? It looks fucking  _ fantastic _ .”

All Maggie can do is nod in agreement.

Maybe it was the shouting outside of the lyrics. Maybe Alex could pick her sister’s voice out of the crowd, they were close to the stage after all. Whatever the reason, Alex finally notices them, barely feet away, halfway into their set. 

Her smile falters, and she steps back from the mic for a deep breath. She steps back, at just the wrong angle, and her foot catches an un-taped cable, nearly sending her flying. She saves herself, flinging forward to headbang as she resumes the lyrics.

Lucy can’t help but laugh to see Alex, looking so far from normal, be so clumsy. Maggie just keeps dancing along, flashing a thumbs up when Alex catches her eyes. 

The trio cheer the band on for an encore what feels like hours later - the entire bar is amped and the energy is palpable. Except it seems, for Kara, who still smiling, makes an exit as the encore starts. It doesn’t seem like anything is immediately wrong, but Kara has an arm wrapped around herself, as she weaves towards the exit. Maggie turns to follow, a look of concern that’s mirrored in Lucy’s face, but Kara waves them off. She shouts for them to stay, saying something that could be: 

“Alex knows how to finish.” 

Which…

Well.

_ When it’s put like that...  _

The last song is, epic. If it felt before like the audience couldn’t be any more pumped - the new heights this song propels everyone too is  _ insane _ . Alex, on stage, sweaty and beaming, pausing to let the crowd belt out the lyrics. It’s - well, it’s an experience to be in such a small space, where everyone in the venue is heart and soul into the band that’s playing. 

So much so that the ovation at the end lasts for minutes. Maggie and Lucy do their share of whistling, shouting and applauding - but Kara’s presence is missed and not that it seems like she can’t handle herself, but still, Lucy is finding Maggie’s elbow and they’re venturing away from the crowd, checking the bathrooms first and striking out. 

They check near the bar, and then finally, they step outside. 

It’s a wash of cool air and their ears are ringing.

“See her?” Lucy asks, looking one direction while Maggie checks the other. 

“Yeah,” Maggie says, tugging Lucy along around the corner of the building and into the alley. 

Leaning against the brick wall is Kara. 

“Hey,” Maggie says as they approach “You okay?” 

Kara looks up and smiles softly their way.

“Yeah,” she says, but there’s something about it that’s a little off, “Just, gets loud,” and then, straightening her shoulders she grins, “Alex was amazing, right?” 

“She was,” Lucy starts, “How did we not know she was in a  _ band?”  _

“Seriously,” Maggie agrees “and not just a band, like  _ a good _ band.” 

“You can ask her yourself,” Kara says, turning reaching for a propped open side door, “She’s going to be a little buzzed, just so you know.” 

It’s busy and crowded backstage, with a couple friends of the band packing up the equipment and a bunch of other VIPs crowding around. They hang back for a minute, just watching Alex glow. 

And she is.

Glowing. 

The smile that could split her face, looking more relaxed than either Lucy or Maggie had ever seen her, laughing and joking with her bandmates and some of the fans. They stay out of the way, waiting for the crowd to clear a little before ambushing her with their questions. They wait until the band drifts away and it’s clearly just Alex and two people she’s at least vaguely familiar with.

Familiar enough that the light starts to dim. As the conversation goes on, Alex is looking less buzzed, more bummed, there’s a shifting in her posture that radiates tension. She doesn’t seem to know what to do with her hands, clenching them into first, looping thumbs through her belt loops, letting them drop to her sides. It doesn’t sit well with either of them - so Maggie and Lucy share a look, then a smirk. 

Lucy reaches Alex first, putting some hustle in those heels. The first thing she does is reach up to scratch her fingers through the freshly shaved hair behind her ear. “Hey, sugar. Someone’s been keeping secrets.”

Alex jump, but only slightly - tilting her head into Lucy’s fingertips stroking her hair and looking in their direction. 

Maggie saunters. She saunters to make sure she has Alex’s attention, but more importantly the attention of the two people upsetting her. It’s no fun if no one’s watching. She slides around behind Lucy, behind Alex, letting her hand glide along their backs. She leans into Alex’s other side, her hand drifting up to tug at the longer hair. 

“I like the new hair, Danvers.” She can’t help but smirk. “Who’re your… friends?”

Alex, who’s basically avoided them all semester, leans into their touch as Lucy’s hand drifts from behind Alex’s ear to down her arm, lacing their fingers and Maggie tugs once, twice more before placing her hand low on Alex’s back. Alex seems to draw something from them, melting then reforming, stiffening her spine and raising her chin in defiance.

“This is Vicki Donahue. And her boyfriend. We went to highschool together. Vicki, this are my-” there’s a pause where Alex can’t quite seem to find a label, and instead says “this is Maggie and Lucy.”

Vicki is tall, taller than Alex. Her boyfriend, who they notice Alex didn’t bother to name, is even taller, built like a footballer while Vicki is thin and delicate. She doesn’t spare them a second glance 

“Hi,” Vicki says, “I was just telling Alex how nice it was to see her performing again. It was such a shame the band broke up before.”

Alex snorts, “Yeah, a real shame you bailed with no warning.”

“What was I supposed to do, Alex? You were getting weird.”

“I wasn’t  _ getting weird _ , I was doing everything we used to!” Alex fires back, her one free hand coming to run through her hair. 

“It’s different when it’s friends hanging out and when a lesbian is involved!”

All of a sudden, Maggie understands why this pretty woman seems so familiar. This is Alex’s Eliza Wilke, the best friend that really wasn’t, that turned her world on an axis and felt no shame in punting it across town. Maggie’s fingers dig into Alex’s shirt, grounding herself. 

Lucy grips Alex’s hand tighter. She knows trouble is coming, just not how. 

Neither of them are truly surprised when the boyfriend steps in to make things worse.

“Yeah,” he starts, sounding every bit the intoxicated jock that he probably is “it’s not natural, being,” he eyes Alex again - letting his gaze wander to Maggie and Lucy as well, “lesbo like that.” 

And god, Maggie wants to punch him, but there are numerous problems with that plan, never mind the fact that dick boyfriend is easily a foot taller than her. And Lucy. So instead Maggie grips the back of Alex’s shirt, and notices Lucy’s grip mirroring hers. Alex, to her credit, hasn’t reacted. 

At least not outwardly.

The tension is evident down her spine, across her shoulders. Her one free hand clenched into a fist. The way her breathing has started to stutter and stop, and it’s clear this guy is drunk, and it’s clear Vicki has no intention of stopping him from continuing whatever drunken tirade he’s picked up on. 

“Say it again,” comes a snap from behind Lucy’s left shoulder.

Kara, sounding as angry as Lucy and Maggie feel.

It takes the boyfriend a moment to realize who’s talking, and his eyes seems to light up, settling into a confident smirk that there’s no way,  _ no way _ this blonde kid can cause any real trouble. 

“She’s a filthy les-” He starts. 

He does not finish. 

Before he can so much as finish the sentence, Kara who was previously behind Lucy, Alex, and Maggie - 

-is suddenly in front of them. 

It takes a moment for anyone to put together what’s just happened - with the boyfriend stumbling backwards, two hands cupping his face, as if that can stem the blood streaming from his nose. Vicki, letting out indignant squeals as she realizes that it was ‘ _ that weird girl Kara Danvers _ ’ who had punched her boyfriend in the face. 

But it’s Alex who reacts quickest off, and Lucy is left to wonder how many times Alex has stepped into Kara’s fight. Not that Kara needs the help from the looks or sounds of it. Yet suddenly Alex is grabbing Kara and pulling her backwards in the same step that she breaks from Maggie and Lucy’s contact. That she’s bringing herself face to face with an angry, drunk, potential football player and honestly, Maggie wouldn’t be surprised if Alex didn’t even blink. 

Her stance seems to radiate confidence and a not so quiet anger - with Kara safely behind her, Alex seems braced for a fight. 

“What’s going on here?” comes the voice of a bouncer, drawn by the blood, or some sixth sense that things were going to go from bad to worse very, very quickly. 

“A misunderstanding,” comes Alex’s reply, “They were just leaving.” 

And  her gaze maybe fire, but her words are ice. 

There’s a moment where the bouncer is assessing the situation and seems inclined to agree with Alex’s version of events. Especially when Vicki is trying to protest, but the boyfriend, attempting to keep some shred of his dignity apparently, allows them both to be led away. 

There’s a beat, and then Alex is turning to Kara 

“You probably broke his nose.”

“He deserved it,” Kara fires back, “For what he said about you.” 

There’s a moment of tension, a staredown between Kara and Alex that’s only broken when - 

“I think this calls for milkshakes.”

“Homophobia and violence calls for milkshakes, Lane?” Alex glared. “Don’t encourage her.”

“Uh, no, Danvers, I think Lucy means a kickass concert, new ‘do, and storytime deserve milkshakes.” Maggie corrects, sliding herself under Alex’s arm. “Lucy’s buying.”

“The fuck, Sawyer?” Alex responds, but makes no attempt to extricate her arm from around Maggie’s shoulders. 

Kara looks pleadingly at her sister. First with the big puss-in-boots eyes. Then the lip. Then the tremble.

Punk Rock Star Alex Danvers, badass supernerd, crumbles. “Fine. If Lane can afford to feed you.”

Lucy rolls her eyes. How much could four women eat, anyway? She slides herself under Alex’s other arm, tugging her arm tight. “C’mon stud. I brought my car.”

*

So as it turns out, three women were perfectly content with milkshakes. 

Alex had waited until Maggie slid into a booth to slid in next to her, leaving Kara on the other side, safe from Maggie’s teasing flirtations. Never one to miss out on the fun, Lucy shoved at Alex until the three were practically on top of one another, Kara all by her lonesome on the other side, and perfectly content with that. 

Alex gets a classic chocolate. Lucy gets cookies and cream. And because Lucy knows Maggie, and this is their favorite study diner because it has lactose-free options, Lucy makes sure Maggie gets an extra expensive strawberry shake made with Lactaid and Lactaid ice cream. Mostly because Lucy shares an apartment with Maggie, and also a bathroom. 

Kara? Kara gets  _ three  _ milkshakes because she can’t decide. She also orders a double cheeseburger, fries, chicken and waffles, and an  _ entire _ pie. 

The shakes are cold, and the air conditioning is blasting through the place in spite of the fall temperatures outside. Maggie and Lucy use it as the perfect excuse to cuddle closer to their roommate. They watch in horror and amusement as plate after plate is set in front of the teenager.

“Did you not feed her dinner, Danvers?” Maggie asks.

“Second dinner.” Kara replies, shoving chicken, waffle, and syrup into her bottomless pit.

“Where does she put it?” Lucy asks. 

Alex takes a long slurp of her shake. “Space.” 

Kara rolls her eyes and Alex smirks into her milkshake. 

“But seriously,” Lucy says knocking Alex’s knee under the table with her own, “You killed it tonight.” 

“And the haircut is amazing,” Maggie adds. 

“I told you,” Kara says, “I told you they would love it.” 

It’s a bit of a revelation that Alex would seem to care what Lucy and Maggie thought about her hair - but it seems to the be theme of the evening: there are many things they don’t know about Alex Danvers. 

For the moment, Alex takes another sip of her drink and preens. She feels Lucy playing footsy with her and Maggie’s hand has tangled with hers under the table. 

Lucy notices Kara observing between mouthfuls, watching them and seeming satisfied. But whether that’s due to the food she just consumed, or the fact that Alex seems to be coming off her performance high and is leaning her head against Lucy’s shoulder, is anyone’s guess. 

But they’re warm and comfortable and the diner isn’t too loud or too bright. It would feel a bit like a date, the three of them smashed together like this. Maggie goading Alex into trying her strawberry milkshake, grinning when Alex concedes that it’s not actually terrible. 

Kara will not be tempted and instead finishes Alex’s milkshake for her. 

Lucy, of the group, only half regrets offering to pay. 

It’s worth it, for whatever tonight is. 

And whatever might come. 

**Author's Note:**

> co-written by myself, [onefootone](http://www.onefootone.tumblr.com/), and [bathtimefunduck](http://www.bathtimefunduck.tumblr.com/). feel free to come shout about supergirl with us at either of our tumblrs - linked above. 
> 
> also, the inspiration for alex's bass guitar comes from [this post](https://people-are-just-bad-code.tumblr.com/post/160524440297/the-supergirl-guitar-is-finally-finished-specs-2)


End file.
